Hi Martin, congrats on the excellent results! Now I'm even more convinced that IF works! I've been living the IF-style for about a year now and really enjoy it, but I'm now trying out a different macronutrient-compositionon ratio 30/40/30 in carbs/protein/fat. Reason for this is that I went through a metabolic typing test, (The Metabolic typing diet by William Wolcott, maybe you have heard about him?) and it says that I'm a typical Protein-type. So a more paleo/zoneish diet, could that work well with IF do you think, or is the carbs to low/fat to high? Good luck in the future man, IF for the win!

Yup. I feel great. Never get sick, no energy/libido issues, no abnormal appetite/cravings.

I think it might have to do with gradually leaning out, as opposed to the approach most people take. I was in no rush and dropped down gradually. Transfering from diet to maintenance wasn't a big issue, and there was no rebound of any sort. When taking a more dynamic approach in the past I would feel much worse and be much more prone to screwing up after reaching my goal (i.e bingeing and putting fat back on).

According to my own formula (see the post called What's My Genetic Muscular Potential) I'm pretty much there already.

But that doesn't stop me from trying, nor does it limit my thinking. Just like the set point theory never limited me from trying to maintain 5-6% body fat. I've done that just fine, it just took some trial and error. So, let's see.

"But that doesn't stop me from trying, nor does it limit my thinking. Just like the set point theory never limited me from trying to maintain 5-6% body fat. I've done that just fine, it just took some trial and error. So, let's see."

Thanks for the response. I find that inspiring and that helps keep me motivated :)

I think that no matter how many great technical posts you make Martin, a picture (or several) speaks a thousand words, and I for one would appreciate the odd photo from time to time. Amazed nobody mentioned your biceps specifically, they're spectacular.

Martin,I’ve been following your blog for a while now and I’m completely blown away by your results. You look insane and I mean that in a good way! What and amazing job you’ve done! My question to you is what would you recommend a person with horrible genetics do in order to lower there body fat and possibly build up some muscle. I know that you have probably heard this a thousand times before but the truth is that I have terrible genetics and I don’t put muscle on very easily. I’m 6 1’ and I’m skinny fat. Hell, Ive benn skinny fat since birth lol. I give off a lean appearance but I have a high body fat percentage around 17% to be exact. The fact of the matter is that I burn out during exercise very easily and I was wondering if there was something that you could recommend because I’m pretty much stumped at this point. I know that there are many variables to consider but I was just wondering if you could point me in the right direction because to say I’m frustrated is an understatement.All the best!~R~

Im not martin but i will tell why you dont pack muscle.First if you were a pure ectomorph? You weren't have any fat at all, so thats mean that you have the genetics of the average joe.

Now i will tell you why you dont pack muscle.DONT EATING ENOUGH.Yeah you will say that you really eat enough but in reality thats not true at all, you OVERESTIMATE YOUR FOOD INTAKE or you move to much daily. I had seen that 99% of the time, because real ECTOMORPH are like the 0,1%, just like pure Mesomorph, so first you must learn about nutrition, Weight with a scale (NOT MEASURE) ALL FOOD, READ THE LABELS.Dont Overtrain, thats pretty common too, people who goes to the gym and do Hours and hours of cardio or go to the gym all days to workouts, without giving the muscle time to rest.If you want to gain muscle, go maximum 3 times PER WEEK! with low reps, maximum 10 reps with a typical routine A-B-A or one day upper body and the other low body.you must understand that you have to give to your body a reason to grown up so if you do 300 reps, you body will just burn glycogen but nothing moreSleep Quality, not Quantity, if you sleep 10 hours but feel with low energy, then you sleep were badSo to end this.EAT ENOUGHWEIGHT YOUR FOODKNOW YOUR REAL MAINTENANCE CALORIESDONT OVERTRAINSLEEP FINELEARN ABOUT NUTRITION

You said you maintain this year round pretty much. Do stick on your typical recomp plan (Hypercaloric on lifting days, hypo on off/cardio days)?

Also in previous posts you state how you do low frequency training (or at least you have done it for alot of your gains). How would you work a recomp plan on a schedule like that? It seems like 3 workouts every 10 days or so doesn't give you many days of overfeeding.

Finally, how much does volume or frequency need to be reduced when doing a recomp in comparison with a full bulk? And does IF change the rules for either a recomp or full bulk in terms of calories/protein/recovery? I know it seems to greatly enhance the results of a recomp (at least for me so far), but I wasn't sure.

Overall awesome pics though, and maintaining that low BF% year round without any complications is simply extraordinary and really makes a case for IF. Good work man.

Thanks, but I'd rather wait until I have the lifts on video. I have no respect for unverifiable internet lifts. Besides, I'm still working with submaximal weights per the high frequency experiment. Won't be time for PRs in another two months if the periodization goes as planned.

Don't have any cardio days and do a lot more by instinct these days. My diet is far from rigid. I don't plot out x grams of y macronutrient to consume on z days, but have a general strategy depending on requirements (i.e workout days are higher carb, but not necessarily high carb, rest days are lower carb etc). It's a lifestyle approach these days.

As for your other questions, I'll leave that for some other time. It's not something I can summarize in a few lines here. Thanks for the comment though.

I was interested in your comment about you following a lifestyle approach.. do you think that this style of diet can be used for bulking/leaning out? It obviously works well for recomp/maintenance from your results

This article has a few flaws as far as extrapolating to a different context situation. By that I mean that the volunteers were probably eating multiple meals in a day, so this study can't be applied to IF. See there are protein receptors on the muscle much like insulin receptors. In this study, its basically showing that after 30g of protein, the receptors had been stimulated enough to stop responding, almost like "protein-receptor insensitivity" if you will. With an IF plan, the protein-receptors because sensitized during the day when no exogenous amino acids are activating them. Then when you eat during the feeding window, the muscle responds greater to the protein, until enough stimulation causes that insensitivity. So the net effect is the same.

Another consideration is that the study fed them only lean beef. We know that combining carbs with protein can be more anabolic and might therefore raise the threshold. Again, with IF, all calories are consumed in a dense window, so protein utilization might be further raised.

Hope that helped. If you want more information I'd refer you to Lyle McDonald's article, although I believe he doesn't extrapolate to explain the success with IF (he still recommends 6 meals in the article i think). Here's the link:

Question, When I am close to maintenance levels where I have my body fat where I want it and just want to put on more muscle... Do I stick with the same 16/8 and 3 meals and just eat as many calories I need from that? Do I count calories to ensure I am getting enough or more for growth or do I just eat as feel I need and let the rest take care of it's self?